As advised, I went to Tiger Direct and looked at mobo bundles and found what looks like a good deal. The board is an Abit KV7-V Via Socket A ATX, with a AMD Athlon XP 2900+ processor, and a Crucial 512MB PC32000 DDR module. It's priced at $199.00 with a $70.00 rebate, this looks like a good deal, but the reviews for the board were very mixed, and I couldn't find any information on the Athlon. I would really appreciate some input, is this deal too good to be true? dcc

Yea, that looks good, but I would look for something with a socket 754 at least. If that is too expensive then go on down the list, socket A is basically bottom of the food chain with mobos. This is the line up of socket mobos, from best to worst:

socket 939
socket 775
socket 754
socket 478
socket 370
socket A

Thanks, I'm basically going to be using this for burning DVDs, email, and the occasional picture. How far up the food chain should I go, and what is the difference? By the way, I made an error in my prvious statement, the memory is not Crucial, it's Ultra.

Whooha! How did socket 370 get classed above socket A? It went out along with the Pentium 3s!

The list you see there is mostly an indication of the best performance you can achieve from what I gather to be the high end CPUs available for each socket type, primarily gaming. However, I wouldn't base your purchase on that list. The socket types themselves have no real impact on your speed - it's the processors and other bits that plug in that matter the most!

Things become more confusing depending on what you plan to use your system for and what kind of budget you're on. If gaming is what you want, then an A64 system is the best choice. If you're on a shoestring budget for this, then you might want to look at socket 754. Otherwise, stick with the more future proof 939.

If video editing and some dabbling in multimedia is your aim, then a P4 setup might be the answer for you. 478 if you're a bit tight, otherwise look into 775.

If you just want a cheap as chips box for writing essays in Word, then you can't go past socket A systems.

Is that $199 after the rebate or before?

If the effective price for the bundle is $120, then I doubt you'd get a better value option for the purposes mentioned.

I'm begining to be less concerned about spending another $150. and buying a Asus K8V Deluxe with an AMD Athlon 64 3400+ bundle, than looking at the possible head aches I've read about making the Abit KV7-V and the Atlon XP2900+ run properly. Is this significant enough of an improvement to warrent spending the extra dough? I'm a little tight, but could manage this if it's worth it perfomance wise. The price for this bundle is $299. with a $100. rebate, and about $16. shipping. And of course this bundle doesn't come with any memory, so there's another $45. for a good 512MB stick. One last question, will my 300watt power supply support the Asus board.
Thanks for the help guys...dcc

It would be worth it to buy the Asus K8V Deluxe / AMD Athlon 64 3400+ bundle if you need it but it seems like you dont need it. If you are not into gaming, video editing or need to use demanding applications, I would probably not buy the bundle because it is still 200$+ more and performance that you wont really use. It is still your choice though.

check out this barebone for lost cost:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...568&CatId=1279

It would be a very good computer.

i got a pc with Semperon, pci express mobo, 512mb ram, heatsink, fan, psu and case for under £150 (300 dollars or so) off of www.novatech.com - dunno if its uk only, have a look and see if theres a us version

A little late to be contributing to this one aren't you? That thread is almost two years old.:eek:

oh crap sorry